A Girl and Her Dog: Meal Time

Val and my dog have a very strong bond. Ellie, aka the pooch, loves Val - she cozies up next to her on the floor, lets Val crawl over to her and pull on her ears, and freaks out when I go upstairs with Val to put her down for the night. I mentioned in a post last month that Ellie was also whining and crying when we left the house, and after some detective work I discovered that it is only when we leave the house with Val that she really freaks out.

Ellie is no dummy when it comes to meal time. In the beginning of feeding Val solid food Ellie would hover around her high chair and jump when Val would accidentally drop food on the ground. Now that Val is older (1 year next Wednesday - gasp!) she is hip to the groove - she knows why Ellie is sitting right next to her during meals, and figures since they are best buds, might as well make things easy for the pooch. Hence our daily battles with Val to get her to stop feeding the pooch.


I can tell already that Val is going to be our little troublemaker when she grows up. She is already a little sassy minx, but when you tell her to stop feeding the pooch? Fuggedaboutit....

It goes something like this:

Me: Valerie, remember, don't feed the pooch. Eat your food. Don't give it to the pooch!
Val: Yup. Got it mom. You tell me every meal. 

Val: Oh you mean this food right here? I really think the pooch wants some.
Me: Put that in your mouth. Do Not Feed The Pooch!

Val: Let me just see if...See Mom, I told you she is hungry.
Me: NO! STOP!

Val (following an ear-piercing scream): WOMAN! Don't tell me to stop feeding the pooch! I do what I want!

You don't understand what Pooch and I have together...we have an understanding...

Wait, is that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? I love this show!

Me: Valerie do not feed the pooch!!!

This is a face she does when she doesn't like what I say - It is like a snort face but she just breaths through her nose loudly. I call it her sassy face. And I see it often at meal time when I tell her not to feed the pooch.  

Val: Pooch, you want to just lick my hand? There is chicken residue on there. 

Val: No? I will just have a drink. You wait there. The large human will give me more chicken soon. 

Val: You sure you don't want to just smell it? 

Pooch: Wait, is that a tiny piece of chicken on there? Nope. Just vegetable. I don't do vegetables. 

Pooch: The medium sized human behind the camera doesn't understand us. We have an agreement. 

My "Fur"-st Born: When good dogs go bad

Shortly after my husband and I were married in 2005 we started kicking around the idea of getting a dog. We had just moved to a very dog friendly neighborhood, where every other condo had a dog. We knew we were going to start trying to have kids in the next couple years, so why not get a dog and try this parenting thing out on a smaller scale.

Neither of us grew up with dogs, or were really around dogs a lot during our childhood. I had friends who had dogs, and loved being around them, but never really thought about having one myself. We did know that if we were to get a dog we would rescue, or adopt, one, as opposed to paying for some fancy breed of over populated dog. So we began to look on petfinder.com to see if there was any pup that caught our eye.

Within a few weeks we came across what we thought was the cutest puppy we had ever seen...she was a "beagle mix" from Virginia, and said to be about 35 pounds fully grown. And to our excitement she would be at a local "puppy open house" in a few days, and would be up for adoption.

The day of the open house we arrived an hour early, and were first in line to pick out our puppy. Out came the puppy we saw on the website - she was brown and black with white marks, and was jumping up and down like a crazy little thing. Then, they brought out her sister - she was white and tan, and sat very calmly in the corner. They called us forward and literally just said "OK, pick out your dog." Everyone in line behind us wanted one of these two puppies - I could hear the moans from the crowd as we went towards the two beagle mix dogs because they knew they were going to miss out on the dog they wanted. My husband and I looked at each other, and we knew instantaneously that we were changing our minds and going for the quiet sister of our first choice. She was just too cute to pass up. So he leaned over and picked her up, we signed some paperwork, paid our little fee, and we were dog owners.

As we were driving home, and Ellie, our new puppy, pooped all over the crate we had in the back seat because she was petrified,  and I immediately regretted our decision. WTF did we just do? Did we really think this through? Why did we get this dog? Why did we make this decision so hastily? And for about a week I was fully committed to returning her to the dog shelter. She was sleeping in a crate in our room and would whine the entire night. Because she couldn't walk up and down stairs, and was only 9 weeks old, I had to get up with her multiple times during the night, to carry her up the stairs to the main floor, out the back deck, down the stairs to the patio to "go potty" - what? Foreshadowing for parenthood maybe? Well, without the bringing your kid outside to go potty of course...

Mealtime Madness

Since we began feeding Marlo solid foods around 5 months, there has not been a food she has tried that she didn't like. For breakfast she had organic french toast sticks dipped in apple butter with a side of strawberries and oranges, for lunch a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (on multigrain bread) with a side of cottage cheese, for dinner we had pieces of chicken with avocados and beets on the side. I like to think that is a well-rounded day of eating for a 13 month old!

My problem is not getting her to eat, as she eats a lot. My problem (one of them) is the absolute disaster area that is left after every meal. She is a mess, I am a mess, and our surrounding area is a mess. 

mid-scream after a turkey dinner
conditioner was applied

About 3 weeks ago she started to throw her food. I took this first as a sign she was done, but no, it just seems to be something she likes to do. And my girl has an arm on her. From her highchair that is attached to the kitchen table, she can whip food on the floor around her up to about a 5 foot radius. It isn't something that she gets amusement out of either - she doesn't throw her food and then laugh, she throws it and then looks at me with this look that says "yes mother, I like to throw my food. Now you clean it up and deal with it and let me express myself..."

As you all know she wears a helmet, and around mealtime I like to take it off and let her head breath for a few minutes. Another reason I like to take it off is because Marlo has a habit of rubbing her food on her head. That's right, it's like she is putting VO5 hot oil on every meal (not that I have ever done that :). So if her helmet is on, it gets all over her helmet, which isn't easy to clean...BUT, if her helmet is off, it gets all up in her hair. This she thinks is hilarious. She gets her hands all fooded up and then puts both hands on the side of her head, and closes her eyes and rubs away with a big smile on her head. I am guessing it feels damn good to her...who knows. 

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Another problem we have been dealing with for months now is her feeding our always-begging-for-human-food-dog Ellie from her high chair. When it is mealtime, Ellie is right there sitting at her side, and Marlo is happy to give her scraps. Now, she isn't dropping it on the floor for Ellie, she is actually holding out her hand with food in it, so that Ellie licks her hand and eventually gets the food. Again, this is high comedy for Marlo. So, I am constantly saying no! stop it! and cleaning off Marlo's hands, but occasionally the dog-licked hand goes in for another piece of food and makes it into Marlo's mouth. Which should gross me out more than it does, but I guess I am used it by now.  

And then there is the screaming...whenever we are out to eat as of late she is constantly screeching just to hear herself and get a reaction from us. Also considered very funny to a 13 month old. 

And finally there is the dropping of the sippy cup. She takes a sip and either bats it off the tray with her hand and sends it crashing to the floor, or holds it out in her hand, looks at me with that aforementioned look and drops it on the floor. Fun game for everyone but Mama. 

I end up being a mess due to the food thrown at me, the hands wiped on my pants, the milk dripped on me, and the hands in my hair when I bend over to pick up the mess on the floor. 

Maybe I should get her a job in a salon as a shampoo girl. 

Click here to view this video

TSCHTTTT!!!

I recently saw an episode of the Dog Whisperer where Caesar Milan had on a t-shirt that said "TSCHTTT!" and after a few seconds I realized that TSCHTTT is actually the onomatopoetic word for the sound Caesar makes when training dogs. I should really say when he is "rehabilitating dogs" as he "trains humans." HA!

Anyhoo- the point of my story is that I just had a trying experience when I took the pooch, along with Marlo in her stroller, out for a walk on this glorious day in New England. It has been 13 weeks and 4 days since my last walk with the pooch (I know this because it was the day my water broke) and it was actually the first time I have been able to take Marlo for a stroll, other than running across to the convenience store to grab milk (I mean a package of ho-hos). For those of you that don't know my pooch (whose name is Ellie, but we call her pooch all the time it just stuck), she is a rescue dog we adopted almost 4 years ago from a kennel in Virginia. We got her at 10-weeks old and were told at the time she was a beagle mix and would probably be about 30 pounds. Well, she quickly sprouted these giant long skinny legs like a greyhound, and packed on the pounds, and now weighs in at a svelte 65 bones. She is a beautiful dog, and I think she knows it, as she uses those puppy dog eyes to get anything and everything from my husband and I. She has taken over all of our living room furniture (and ruined every wooden piece of furniture when she was a puppy), she always gets to have some of our dinners, and is constantly spoiled with bones and other fancy chew toys. She is and will always be my furry baby.

But on our walk this afternoon I wanted to unhook the leash and let her go on her way. I don't know whether it is because I haven't walked her in months or because she was mad that Marlo was with us, but she was pulling like she has never pulled before...zigging and zagging around the front of the stroller, behind the stroller, between me and the stroller. At one point she cut in front of us so fast that I actually ran over her back leg with the stroller, which I felt terribly about but it was unavoidable, and she let out this horrible yelp. She has never been the best walker in the world, but this was a new level of craziness. After just two blocks of this I tried to re-set her...

I brought her back next to me, put her on what I call the "short leash" (basically have her leash wrapped in my hand so it is only a few inches long) and started again. I tried to not let her get in front of the carriage as Caesar always says on the Dog Whisperer. When she would try to go between the stroller and I would pull her back and give her a TSCHTTT! We probably looked like a bunch of crazy people stopping and starting and making weird noises. At the point where the pooch pulled out into the street I decided to cut our walk short and head to the dog park. Ellie did her usual sniff butts, prance around a bit and stand in the corner routine, so we left shortly after we arrived. On our walk home she was much better behaved, but I think she was exhausted after a little bum sniffing.

I now have a new found respect for all those mothers I would see walking their dog while pushing a stroller. I used to think I can't wait for that to be me! Hopefully after a more practice we will get into a comfortable groove. At least that fresh air did some good - my girls are both asleep and I finally have some time to myself :)

Anyone have any advice about walking dogs alongside a stroller? Any experiences you want to share?

TSCHTTT!!!